AUSTIN CLARKE

Collected Poems

Edited by R. Dardis Clarke with an introduction by Christopher Ricks

with The Bridge Press Contents

Introduction by Christopher Ricks xiii Editor's Foreword and Notes on the Text by R. Dardis Clarke xxv

THE VENGEANCE OF FIONN (1917) The Vengeance of Fionn 3 A Cliff Song 38

THE FIRES OF BAAL (1921) The Fires of Baal 41

THE SWORD OF THE WEST (1921) Concobar 57 The Music-Healers 80 O Love, There Is No Beauty 107

THE CATTLEDRIVE IN CONNAUGHT AND OTHER POEMS (1925) Induction 111 Three Sentences I Ceildhe 111 II Scandal 111 III Blessing 112 A Curse 112 Praise 112 If There Was Nothing Noble 113 Secrecy 113 Silver and Gold 113 The Itinerary of Ua Clerigh 114 The Pedlar 116 The Fair at Windgap 117 The Lad Made King 119 The Lost Heifer 120 The Son of Lir 120 lhe House in the West 122 The Musician's Wife 123 The Frenzy of Suibhne 124 The Circuit of Cuchullin 128 The Cattledrive in Connaught 131

PILGRIMAGE AND OTHER POEMS (1929) Pilgrimage (When the far south glittered) 151 Celibacy 153 The Confession of Queen Gormlai 154 The Scholar 159 The Cardplayer 160 The Young Woman of Beare 161 South-Westerly Gale 167 The Marriage Night 168 The Planter's Daughter 169 (At morning from the coldness of Mount Brandon) 170

COLLECTED POEMS (1936) Wandering Men 175 Six Sentences Black and Tans 176 Civil War I, II 176 To James Stephens 177 No Recompense 177 The Tales of Ireland 177

NIGHT AND MORNING: POEMS (1938) Night and Morning 181 Mortal Pride 182 Tenebrae 183 Martha Blake 184 Repentance 186 The Lucky Coin 187 The Straying Student 188 Penal Law 189 Her Voice Could Not Be Softer 190 Summer Lightning 190 The Jewels 192

VI ANCIENT LIGHTS. POEMS AND SATIRES: FIRST SERIES (1955) Celebrations 195 Fashion 195 Marriage 196 Three Poems about Children 196 Offerings 198 Bequests 198 Ancient Lights 199 Respectable People 201 Mother and Child 202 Inscription for a Headstone 202 Emancipation 203 An Early Start 203 The Blackbird of Derrycairn 203 Vanishing Irish 204 The Envy of Poor Lovers 205 Return from England 205

Too GREAT A VINE. POEMS AND SATIRES: SECOND SERIES (1957) Usufruct 209 Fire 209 Wolfe Tone 210 The Trial of Robert Emmet 210 Past and Present 211 Nelson's Pillar, Dublin 211 Miss Marnell 212 Local Complainer 213 The Loss of Strength 214 Irish Mother 219 The Choice 220 War Propaganda 220 Pilgrimage (No bed that walks is worth such pain) 220 Marian Chimes 221 St Christopher 221

THE HORSE-EATERS. POEMS AND SATIRES: THIRD SERIES (1960) Intercessors 225 Irish-American Dignitary 225 Knacker Rhymes 226 Fable 227

VI1 Menai Strait 227 Christmas Eve 228 The Flock at Dawn 229 In the New; Statesman Office 231 The Dead Sea Scrolls 232 The Lower Criticism 232 Early Unfinished Sketch 232 The Hippophagi 233

FORGET ME NOT (1962) Forget Me Not 243

FLIGHT TO AFRICA AND OTHER POEMS (1963) Mount Parnassus 251 Over Wales 251 The Stadium 252 Ecumenical Council 252 The Common Market, 1962 253 The Abbey Theatre Fire 253 Burial of an Irish President 255 The Wounds of Fodhla 256 Flight to Africa 257 Precautions 259 The Last Republicans 260 Street Game 261 Four Letter Words 261 A Simple Tale 262 Medical Missionary of Mary 262 From a Diary of Dreams 263 Martha Blake at Fifty-One 269 Corporal Punishment 275 Living on Sin 275 Unmarried Mothers 276 The Knock 276 Richmond Hill 278 Looking Back 279 Our Dumb Friends 280 Guinness Was Bad for Me 281 Midnight in 284 Japanese Print 285 vm Right of Way 286 A Strong Wind 286 A Mile from Tallaght 287 Cypress Grove 287 On the Mountain Tops 289 I Saw from Cashel 290 The Eighth Wonder of Ireland 290 Beyond the Pale 291 Eighteenth Century Harp Songs T Mabel Kelly 295 II Gracey Nugent 296 III Peggy Browne 297 IV The Tantalus 298 V Breedeen 298 A Vision of Mars 299 Aisling (One day before Titan had lighted the way...) 299 O'Rourke's Feast 300 Cock and Hen 301 Rustic Match-Making 302 The Adventures of the Great Fool 303 How Covetousness Came into the Church 306 Song of the Books 309 The Thorn 317 The Jest 317 Every Fine Day 317 The Phoenix Park 318 Fragaria 319 Jeanne d'Arc 319 Following Darkness 320 Rightful Rhymes I Irish-American Visitor 321 II Tale of a Tub 321 III The Plot 321

MNEMOSYNE LAY IN DUST (1966) Mnemosyne Lay in Dust 325

OLD-FASHIONED PILGRIMAGE AND OTHER POEMS (1967) Old-Fashioned Pilgrimage 351 Napalm 358

IX 358 359 Fiesta in Spain 360 Garcia Lorca 363 364 The Paper Curtain 364 Letter to a Friend 368 The Penitent 370 A Young Member of the Party 371 At Middle Abbey Street Corner 371 At the Opposite Corner 372 Nova et Vetera 372 The Pill 373 Our Love Was Incorruptible 373 The Redemptorist 374 Catechism Lesson 375 Pigeon Pie 376 Custom House Official 377 A Student in Paris 378 More Extracts from a Diary of Dreams 381

THE ECHO AT COOLE AND OTHER POEMS (1968) The Labours of Idleness 393 A Centenary Tribute 395 In the Savile Club 396 The Echo at Coole 398 A'.E. 399 James Stephens 400 E.R. Higgins 403 Paupers 408 The House-Breakers 411 The Uncommissioned 413 Gerard Manley Hopkins 414 Song for Cecilia 414 Afterthought 415 Nunc Dimittis 415 The Knot 416 At the Dail 416 Above Party 417 Black, White and Yellow 418 The Council of Churches 419 Love, Joy, Peace 420 Rousseau 421 In the Rocky Glen 422 The Bolshoi Ballet 424 New Liberty Hall 426 In O'Connell Street 427 The New Tolerance 428 A Statue for Dublin Bay 430 The Subjection of Women 431 Miss Rosanna Ford 433 The New Cathedral in Galway 434 A Reply 434 In Kildare Street 434 At the House of Commons 435 The Vocation 436 No Keepsake 437 On a Bright Morning 437 The Last Ditch 438 The Knuckleduster 439 Lactuca Prodigiosa 440 Aisling (Morning had gone into the wood before me) 441 Eire 443 A Jingling Trifle 444 The Happy Saint 446 The House of Mercy 447 The Last Irish Snake 448 Phallomeda 450 Impotence 452

A SERMON ON SWIFT AND OTHER POEMS (1968) A Sermon on Swift 457 The Disestablished Church 460 Rose MacDowell 465 Another Protestant Insult 467 Ex Trivio 469 Dirge 472 A Jocular Retort 473 Moral Tales 473 The New World 474

XI Galway 475 Drumcondra 476 The Stump 476 Neptune 478 Anacreontic 479 Talaria 480 Amor Angustus Domi 481 Stopples 481

ORPHIDE AND OTHER POEMS (1970) Orphide 485 The Quarry 495 The Dilemma of Iphis 499 The Trees of the Forest 504 The Healing of Mis 506

TIRESIAS: A POEM (1971) Tiresias 515

COLLECTED POEMS (1974) The Wooing of Becfola 537

Austin Clarke's Notes on the Poems 541 Bibliography 555 Index of Titles 559 Index of First Lines 567

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